I have a very, very deep love for roses that goes all the way back to my childhood. It first began in with my grandmother’s rose bushes, trimming them, cutting the flowers to take to my elementary school teachers. Growing up in Texas my father would always bring me a dozen yellow roses on special occasions and now from time to time when I come home from New York to visit.

This past summer I put a lot of love and attention on the terrace at the back of our studio in Tribeca. It’s a small urban garden but in a city this compact I feel pretty lucky to have the amount of outdoor space I do. I grew my first rose garden, the flowers in these shots I cut from these bushes. I was so proud every time a new bud would emerge and in the mornings when I sat outside with my coffee I would touch the petals and remember the sweet lingering memories of my childhood.

Tending to a garden, making sure that someone is there to take care of it when you’re traveling or working the hours away was a lesson for me. A lesson in care, patience and pride. I realized, it’s not unlike relationships. If you don’t tend to them, take care of them, they too can wither and die. It’s not much that we need, just some sunlight and water and it’s amazing what things can blossom into and make your life a richer place.

So on this Valentine’s Day I give you roses and I hope your own gardens are full of love.

I‘m often asked in interviews the difference between film vs. digital, if film is dead, and how I choose which medium I want to shoot with. Film photography will always be a part of my life. It was how I was raised to take pictures; it is my roots in photography. It feels different to take a photograph on film than on digital even though so much of what they accomplish is the same.

When I shoot on film I am looking for a depth to the final image…quite simply, I find film images to have a soul. Maybe that has something to do with how you take the picture. We go through thousands of digital photographs weekly which feels like the next image diminishes the value of the one before. With film, even when I feel like I’m shooting a lot, it is only in the hundreds and when I push that shutter release each time, that shot is thought-out, composed, and one where I waited for that perfect moment. My friend Adam who had a show this past fall at the Sasha Wolf Gallery said if he ever had to teach a class in digital he’d make his students shoot on camera cards that only hold 36 frames to train them to think about each shot.

However, digital has this beautiful clarity, this “reach out and touch it” ability that I find so beautiful. The velvety texture of flower petal, the saturation of color in a blushing rose. Digital puts you there, in the moment, feeling the light, and seeing even what the human eye can’t. The speed with which we can capture, document and share with digital photography is so astonishing. Recently I tweeted, “Every two minutes, we take more pictures than the whole of humanity in the 1800s.” I alway say, photography is a right, not a privilege, and thanks to digital that has never been more true.

On a day where I just don’t want to sit at a computer editing or writing emails, or I need a break to get in the zone creatively, I find my favorite thing to do is photograph flowers. Flowers represent so much about life to me: the beauty, the aging, the individuality and sexuality. I wanted to illustrate the difference between film and digital, so on my last flower study I took (as close as possible!) the same photograph on a digital Leica M with macro lens and then again on a 4×5 Toyo View Camera on Ilford Delta 100 ISO black and white film. I used natural light and did a variety of shots using different F-stops for a varying depth of field.

You tell me what you prefer: Film or Digital?

Simple natural light setup in our studio, white textured cardboard background. Above, using the shutter cable release to avoid my hand shaking on the shutter release, which causes motion blur. Most of the 4×5 exposures were between 30 secs and one minute. Below, focusing view on the 4×5 ground glass.

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a little crash course in flower arranging with Belle Fleur at the Flower School of New York over sips of Veuve Clicquot Rosé champagne. I’m always photographing flowers here at the studio as a personal project and quite honestly, it’s one of my favorite photographic subjects. I am always in awe of the beauty of a rose, the fold of a tulip, the color of a ranunculus or the smell of a hyacinth. The abstract lines and organic textures become something else though the lens of a camera, allowing each flower to have its own personality, life, expression, and age not unlike the way we are as humans. Since we have beautiful flowers around so often it was really nice to pick up a few tips and tricks on making your own arrangements at home! Read below to find out what I learned…

On arranging: Arrange in your hand. Start with the biggest flower as your “anchor” and build around that. You can cut your flower arrangement to the correct height for your vase by putting the vase at the edge of the counter and holding the arrangement next to it for the desired height and cut. To keep the flowers in the arrangement you created tie a clear rubber band around the stems to hold in place.

On cutting flowers: You do not have to cut under water when you buy quality flowers, but you should put them in water seconds after cutting as a “scab” immediately begins to form over the freshly cut end. Every few days, re-snip the ends of the arrangement to get fresh water into the flower and have it last longer. Cut the ends at an angle so water travels UP!

Is there anything lovelier than receiving a dozen roses?… burying your nose into the classic & romantic fragrance is like hearing a nostalgic love song. A new perfume, “A Drop of Rose” by pureDKNY, allows you to enjoy that delicacy and romance all day. Whereas a bouquet will fade in time and the fragrance will become a distant memory, the perfume will leave you wrapped in pure rose essence.

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Visual storytellers Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg unfold tales of fashion, travel, truth and beauty. Through photographs, videos, and their own invention, Cinemagraphs, they create new worlds — from their New York City workspace, Ann Street Studio. May you find something here to inspire you.